NCAA Division I Men’s Championships: Day Three Prelims

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota, March 26. THE final day of prelims is complete at the NCAA Division I Men's Championships held at the University of Minnesota.

200 back
Indiana's Eric Ress, who is still recovering from a broken hand suffered a month ago, vaulted up to seventh all time in the event with a smoking time of 1:39.52. He will be looking for Indiana's first triumph in the event since Michael Stamm won for the Hoosiers back in 1973. Overall, IU has six 200 back titles with wins from Frank McKinney (1959), Charlie Hickcox (1967, 68, 69), Gary Hall (1971) and Stamm (1973).

Florida's Marco Loughran finished second in 1:40.49, while defending champion Cory Chitwood qualified third in 1:40.67. Stanford's Matt Swanston (1:40.88), Texas' Austin Surhoff (1:41.62), Arizona's Michael Sheppard (1:41.66) and Stanford's Matt Thompson (1:41.72) made the finale, while Texas' Cole Cragin and Auburn's Kyle Owens set up a swimoff with matching 1:42.04s for eighth. Cragin won the swimoff, 1:42.38 to 1:44.43.

100 free
Auburn's Adam Brown moved into a 10th-place tie with William Copeland on the all time performers list with a 41.75 for the top seed out of the morning. He will be looking for Auburn's fifth title in the event with previous victories coming from Cesar Cielo (2007, 08) and Rowdy Gaines (1980, 81). Texas' Jimmy Feigen qualified second in 42.01, while Auburn's Marcelo Chierighini earned third in 42.26.

200 breast
California and Texas remained status quo after the 200 breast with Texas going 3 up, while California went 2 up and 2 down. Texas' Nick D'Innocenzo (1:53.46) and Eric Friedland (1:53.58) went 1-2 in the event for the Longhorns. They will be looking for UT's first 200 breast title since Brendan Hansen won four years straight from 2001-04. Texas' other win came from Kirk Stackle back in 1988. Texas' Scott Spann also snuck into the finale with en eighth-seeded 1:54.59.

200 fly
California likely iced the team title with a two up performance in the event, while Texas claimed zero points.

Stanford's Bobby Bollier led the way with a 1:41.63, which moved him from 11th all time to ninth all time on the performers list. The time bumped Olympic gold medalist Mel Stewart from the top 10 for the first time since he clocked an ahead-of-its-time 1:41.78 back in 1991.

Georgia's Mark Dylla qualified second in 1:42.15, but has a fourth-ranked personal best of 1:40.85 to his credit. Michigan's Dan Madwed (1:42.4) and Wisconsin's Dan Lester (1:42.59) rounded out the top four. California's Robbie Sullivan qualified fifth in 1:43.18, while NCAA record holder Tom Shields qualified sixth for Cal with a 1:43.25. Florida's Sebastien Rousseau (1:43.40) and Marci Cieslak (1:43.41) picked up seventh and eighth.

400 free relay
California's Nathan Adrian, Graeme Moore, Josh Daniels and Tom Shields turned in the top seed with a 2:49.61. The Golden Bears will be looking to defend their 2010 title, and push their program total to nine triumphs in the event's history.

Platform Diving
Purdue's David Boudia will be looking to sweep the diving events after checking in with 466.85 points during prelims. Duke's Nick McCrory qualified second with 423.45 points, while Texas' Drew Livingston earned third with 408.55 points.